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Cashman: Yanks aren’t players for Cliff Lee

Two years ago, the Yankees nearly wrestled Cliff Lee away from the Mariners before seeing him head to the Rangers instead. With rumors swirling that the left-hander could again be available for the right price, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman lightheartedly shot down any suggestion that his club would again be involved in the bidding.

It’s not that the Yankees don’t like Lee or couldn’t use him in their rotation, mind you. Cashman pointed out that if the Yankees are going to achieve their goal of reaching a $189 million payroll by 2014, they can’t be taking on contracts like Lee’s. He’s owed a guaranteed $75 million over the next three years.

“I’m not allowed to speak about another team’s player,” Cashman said, “but if there was a hypothetical mythical beast that makes like $25 million a year for the next X amount of years that became hitting the market, we certainly could not participate in that type of level financial talent.”

Cashman added that he is “not at all” optimistic that the Yankees will pull off a move before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET non-waivers Trade Deadline.

“It’s gotten really quiet,” he said. “Things have just gotten quiet all of a sudden. There have been a lot of moves before tomorrow so I’m not going to count anything out. A lot of buyers, not very many sellers.”

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